Today marks the first snow fall of the year for the Cotters, not bad considering it is November 9th. In honor of the first snow fall I am posting my secret (well, not really, but it is completely my own) chili recipe. I will be making it for the Augustine Institute Alumni chili cook off this weekend, so if you're going to be there, just don't use this recipe then. And no, the title of this post was not intended to be a pun, it just happens to be.This was our house at 10:00 this morning:
Tuesday is Bible Timeline morning and the kiddos were playing at "recess". A city worker was blowing leaves and everyone just had to know what he was doing. Notice no jackets, it was beautiful.
This was our house at 3:00 this afternoon:
What happened!
And at 5:00:
The kids just had to go outside to play in the snow. Notice the lovely snowball splatter on the window, courtesy of Kevin.
Now on to the chili: This chili has a mexican flair to it, definitely not like your standard tomato, beans and meat chili. It is very hearty and not at all runny, which I love. I can't handle too much spice, so if you want to kick it up a notch, just add some more chili powder.
Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey, beef or veggie crumbles
1c. diced onion
4 cloves of chopped garlic
1/2 c. diced green bell peppers
1 c. chicken or beef broth
2 t. dried cumin
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. chili powder
1 t. black pepper
1/2 t. salt
2 cans of drained kidney beans
1 can of drained corn
1 can of drained black beans
2 cups of black bean and corn salsa
1 can refried beans
Don't be intimidated by the long ingredients list, it's mostly a lot of dumping things into a pot.
Step 1: Brown the meat. I use turkey, so there is no grease to drain, but if you have a lot of grease from beef, drain it. I just brown mine right in the pot, so there is less to clean. You could also put the meat in a crock pot once it's cooked and add the rest to there.
Step 2: Add the onions and garlic (I forgot the bell pepper, but you would add it here). There is no need to cook them, they will soften while the chili simmers.
Step 3: Drain the corn, black beans and kidney beans and add them to the pot and stir it all up.
Step 4: Add the broth. I tend to use bullion cubes for this and I have two cups of water because I was making a double batch when I took these pictures.
Step 5. Add the spices and stir.
Step 6: Add the salsa and stir. See, lots of dumping, just like I promised.
Step 7: Let simmer on low for 3 hours.
Step 8: Add the refried beans and stir until the beans "melt" into the chili.
Step 9: Let simmer for 1 more hour and it's ready. I love to garnish this with a mexican blend cheese and you can serve it with corn bread or tortilla chips.